Question about making cranberry stilton

[Kevin]

Hello.  I've very new to cheese making.  2 weeks ago I made a 3lb blue stilton that seems to be doing well so far.  This weekend, I would like to make my favorite cheese, which is white cranberry stilton.   Does anybody know where I can find a recipe online or can anybody answer the following questions for me:

1. Blue stilton is cut into walnut-sized pieces before being placed in the mold in order to leave space for the mold to grow internally.  Since I won't be adding mold to white stilton, do I press the cheese to close the internal gaps or should I just mill the cheese into much smaller pieces?

2. What do I do about the rind since I don't want it to get moldy?  Could I wipe the mold off with a light brine solution for the first couple of weeks and then wax it?

3. Is the aging requirement the same as for blue stilton (50-55 F for 3 months at 92% relative humidity)?

4. Is there anything I can do to sweeten the cheese slightly (besides adding the cranberries)?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

[Sailor Con Queso]

White Stilton has no blue mold and to me is not a Stilton.

Make it the same way without the mold. Cut or hand crumble into smaller pieces and add dried cranberries at the same time you salt. Yes, I would do a light pressing because the gaps serve no purpose. I would age at the same temp but much lower humidity (75%) so you don't encourage natural blue mold (or others). Wipe with a brine solution as necessary.

You cannot add sweeteners per se or it will just ferment and convert to alcohol. That is also why you can't use fresh fruit.

[linuxboy]

You cannot add sweeteners per se or it will just ferment and convert to alcohol.

You can use sucralose (splenda). For for God's sake, please don't. What's wrong with a normal, potent, lovely, 3-month-old Stilton? I had some for breakfast this morning. Really wakes up the senses

If you want to control mold, you can mill, and salt the outside and not the curds. Will give you a normal salt gradient like you have on many other cheeses.

[Kevin]

Sailor Con Queso, linuxboy,

Thanks for the quick responses!  I only asked about the sweetener because the Trader Joe's cranberry Stilton contains fructose.  I'll just skip the sweetener since the cranberries contain plenty of sugar.

[Tomer1]

You can use alcoholic sugars (a type of sugar stracture) which are unfermentables and dont carry off flavours like artificial substitutes.